Production I.G

is a Japanese animation studio.

Headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Production I.G was founded on December 15, 1987, by producer Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and character designer Takayuki Goto as I.G Tatsunoko, a branch studio of the animation giant Tatsunoko Production, changing its name to the current Production I.G in September 1993. The letters I and G derive from the names of the company founders. Since 2007, Production I.G is a subsidiary of the IG Port holding company, causing a restructuring which led to the second incarnation of the studio being formed. Ishikawa was president and CEO of the studio until August 2022 when that position was given to George Wada with Ishikawa remaining as chairman of the company.

Production I.G went through a number of structural changes, not only stepping up from subcontractor to prime contractor to financier of animation production, but also changing the very scheme of the animation business in Japan. The studio has implemented a series of measures that break with industry norms, such as investing in productions that are unprecedented for an animation studio, entering the copyright business, establishing a finance company, establishing overseas subsidiaries, and negotiating directly with major Hollywood movie studios.

While other major studios are being acquired one after another by large companies and placed under their umbrella, the studio has remained independent (as of 2024).

Since its inception, Production I.G has produced many of Japan's leading creators, including Mamoru Oshii and Kenji Kamiyama. It has also produced a number of acclaimed feature films, television series, OVAs (Original Video Animations), ONAs (Original Net Animations), and video games. Its representative works include the Ghost in the Shell series, the Psycho-Pass series, Blood: The Last Vampire and its derivative works such as Blood+, the animation sequences of Kill Bill Vol. 1, Eden of the East, Guilty Crown, Kuroko's Basketball, and Haikyu!! When pitching the idea for The Matrix to producer Joel Silver, The Wachowskis showed him Ghost in the Shell and told him they wanted to make a similar film. However, I.G was preoccupied and in no condition to accept, so Ishikawa initially declined. Tarantino then began sending unsolicited drafts of screenplays to the studio one after another. As Ishikawa read them, he gradually became interested and eventually accepted the request.

Takashi Nakamura, Kōichi Mashimo, Takayuki Goto (later Production I.G board member), Hiroyuki Okiura and Kazuchika Kise (later Production I.G board member) who were at Anime R and Mu in Osaka at the time, as well as Mizuho Nishikubo and Mamoru Oshii helped in the production. Kyoto Animation also participated in the production. Hideaki Hatta, President and CEO of Kyoto Animation, who encouraged Ishikawa to become president, supported him in establishing the company and even invested in it.

thumb|Founder [[Mitsuhisa Ishikawa in 2015]]

After becoming independent, I.G's work was mainly subcontracted to other studios for a while. Traditionally, it has been common knowledge that once an animation studio produces and delivers a work and receives payment for it, its relationship with the work ends, and any further profits are monopolized by the publishing company, television station, or advertising agency that has invested in the work and holds the copyrights. Suzuki's power made possible a large-scale advertising campaign that I.G. would not have been able to carry out alone, but it also created some difficulties. The company co-developed and co-produced the television series IGPX, directed by Mitsuru Hongo, with Cartoon Network in 2005. This was the first collaboration between an American cable network and a Japanese anime studio.

Production I.G was recapitalized and became a joint-stock company from a limited company in April 1998, and merged with Ing in September 2000.

In 2005, Production I.G. Inc. went public on the JASDAQ stock exchange. The norm in the animation industry is for anime studios to obtain permission from major publishers such as Shueisha, Kodansha, Shogakukan, and Kadokawa to adapt popular manga into anime, and then produce anime adaptations based on the original manga.

On June 1, 2012, Wit Studio, I.G's subsidiary animation studio, was founded, with the studio's first project being Attack on Titan, which I.G assisted in producing. IG Port invested 66.6%, while George Wada and Tetsuya Nakatake who were in the planning section of Production I.G invested 21.6% and 10.0%, respectively.

In 2017, IG Port created Lingua Franca, an electronic distribution service company, as a wholly owned subsidiary, with Kyohei Shinpuku as its president.

On June 5, 2017, Production I.G launched Tate Anime (vertical anime), an anime distribution app optimized for viewing on smartphones. It was completely renewed in 2018 and replaced with a new app, Anime Beans, with expanded functions, including the ability to deliver Yoko anime (horizontal anime), and more content available for viewing. The service was launched on December 18 worldwide except for China. The app ended service on March 31, 2023.

In 2018, Production I.G and Wit Studio entered into a comprehensive business partnership with Netflix for anime productions.

On November 20, 2018, IG Port sold Xebec to Sunrise. Prior to that, Xebeczwei, a subsidiary of Xebec, was transferred to Production I.G on January 12, 2018, becoming a subsidiary and changing its name to IGzwei accordingly.

On August 30, 2022, George Wada, who founded Wit Studio, was promoted from Executive Vice President of Production I.G to CEO, while Ishikawa resigned as CEO to become Chairman.

Wada also continued to serve as president of Wit Studio.

Works

Television series

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! scope="col" width=10 class="unsortable" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Directors

! scope="col" |

! scope="col" class ="unsortable" | Notes

! scope="col" class ="unsortable" |

<!-- ! scope="row" style=text-align:left| 1987

| Zillion

| Mizuho Nishikubo

| 31

| As I.G Tatsunoko with Tatsunoko Production.

| -->

!scope="row" style=text-align:left| 1994–1995

| Blue Seed

| Jun Kamiya

| 26

| Based on the manga series by Yuzo Takada. Produced with Ashi Productions.

!scope="row" rowspan="2" style=text-align:left| 2001–2002

| Vampiyan Kids

| Masatsugu Arakawa

| 26